it might be called "the city of lights," but mitt romney's last months in paris felt pretty dark. he had gotten word from his girlfriend, ann davies, that she was dating another man. but mitt had to wait until the end of his mission to see her. >> he walked off that airplane, and we only had eyes for each other.

>> christmas eve 1968. >> he walked right by his mother, his father, right to me. and it was as though time had stood still. it was an amazing moment where nothing -- it just dissolved, those 2 1/2 years dissolved, and we were right back to where we were exactly when he left. >> and he proposed. >> on the car ride home, he was, like, oh, my gosh, i've waited so long for you. let's just get married. now. why not? let's do that. of course, that was not good news to either set of parents. >> ann was 19, mitt, 21. their parents wanted them to wait. but they wanted a valentine's day wedding. >> what did you guys do when you got this? >> yeah! all right! >> close friend dane mcbride remembers the telegram he received with the news. >> boom, february 14. and you knew exactly what he was talking about? >> absolutely. >> at lenore romney's request, they waited a month. >> it was beautiful. >> you were in the wedding?

>> i was. there was the civil wedding that was performed by a bishop of our church in bloomfield hills, michigan, at the davies home, ann's parents' home. >> the next morning, they flew to utah for a second ceremony in salt lake city's mormon temple, where they were sealed for eternity, as the church calls it. ann's parents couldn't attend because they weren't mormon. ann herself was a relatively new convert. romney biographer scott helman and michael kranish. >> when ann davies meets mitt, i think she's searching a little bit for a religious home, the way a teenager does. what does this mean. and what do i believe? >> early on, when mitt was going out with ann, he did give her some lessons in what was the mormon faith all about. >> but ultimately ann's conversion was overseen by

george romney while mitt was in france. >> and he would pick me up every sunday for church. the reason i think it was so easy for me to talk to him even on a spiritual level like that is because he respected me as his complete equal. >> ann and mitt settled in provo, utah, in this $75-a-month basement apartment, starting a family and getting serious about school. the mission experience in france had clearly refocused romney. >> life was very different in america than life for the french. and i thought, boy, i've got to work hard in school, i need to be responsible, i need to get back and work. and i began to long for the chance to go back to school and prepare for my life going forward. >> brigham young university was as far from stanford as romney could get. he seemed at home in this conservative environment, yet, in the midst of his new life, mitt took off again on the campaign trail in 1970. >> she hasn't sold a lie to a political ideology.

>> this time, for his mother. >> lenore romney, candidate for the united states senate. >> lenore, the dutiful candidate's wife, was now the candidate, running for the u.s. senate seat in michigan. >> i became so concerned about the direction our country has >> her style, a cautious, elegant diplomat, distinctly different from her husband's bull in a china shop approach. >> she was a very gracious woman but nuanced, careful. and i see that in mitt. >> i think he had a very advanced and mature understanding of politics, you know, at a pretty young age. lenore romney ended up getting killed in that senate race. you know, you take away lessons from victories and from defeat.

>> from both parents. george thrives on candor. >> there's a growing aimlessness and flabbiness in our american society. >> lenore more cautious. their son looked for a path somewhere in between. but george romney steered his son away from politics and toward business first and two graduate degrees, in both business and law, at harvard. >> by now, george romney had seen what it took to succeed and what kind of skills you needed and what kind of credentials you needed. and so he was encouraging his son to go beyond where he had been. >> so in 1972, mitt, ann and their two baby boys moved to massachusetts. but their move from utah would not be easy. >> it was destroyed by fire in august of 1984. and the fire department indicated that it was most likely set. they categorized it as of suspicious origin.

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>> it was a lot of fun. i was the oldest of five boys and so there was a lot of chaos. >> your mother once said that your father was kind of like having another teenager in the house. >> yeah. we thought of him as a really big older brother for a long time. he was just a lot of fun to be around. >> life was also busy. romney was starting a lucrative and intense financial consulting job in boston. ann was running things at home. >> people describe him as the energizer bunny. >> my kids joke and say that i'm the mitt stabilizer because whenever mitt might start winding up and getting really highly energetic, they know i have a very calming influence. >> in the '70s and '80s, romney was also spending a lot of time with his church, which saw him as a rising star. energetic, devoted, generous

with both time and money. >> everybody was well aware of mitt romney. there was some star power even when he wasn't running for office. >> phil barlow first met mitt romney at church in 1979. like most in the church, he already knew the romney name but not the romney work ethic. >> a person that busy and successful might tend to pull out their pocketbook rather than take their time. and he did both. >> for more than a decade, romney was part of the leadership of the mormon church in his hometown. the church has no paid clergy. so at the age of 34, romney was asked to lead his congregation. >> talk about a growing up experience and a learning experience. >> it is a time he rarely talks about but was surprisingly open with us. >> i was like the pastor. that meant if someone was in the hospital, i needed to see them. and if someone lost their job and couldn't afford to meet

their rent payments, i was responsible for helping get them the financial aid they needed. if there was someone contemplating a divorce and they wanted counseling, they'd come to me. >> one of the toughest times for the church came in 1984. led by romney, the congregation was building a new meeting house in belmont. for years, there was a good deal of local opposition. you got a call in the middle of the night? >> yes, yes. this building was under construction. >> grant bennett, romney's right-hand man in the church, remembers the call from the fire department. the building had burned to the ground. they suspected arson. >> the clergy in the town of belmont, the catholics, the episcopalians, the congregationalists, the jewish temple came out in force and essentially everyone offered for our congregation to meet in their building. >> instead of picking one congregation, romney picked all of them. >> i think he very much saw this

as a bridge building opportunity to get to know our neighbors. >> romney was less successful bridging another divide. >> the mormon church is the archenemy of women's rights in this country. >> the '70s was the decade when the e.r.a. was being pushed and the mormon church came out in the early '70s and took a very active position against the e.r.a. >> judy dushku was a member of romney's congregation and a feminist fighting for women's rights in the mormon church, like having more of leadership role or being able to deliver a sermon. >> there we were, suddenly faced with a church that we'd all loved and grown up in. suddenly, it was taking this unusual and we thought strange position. >> so what about when mitt romney became bishop? >> i expected a comforter, somebody who would protect women and who would have an inclusive attitude and be equally interested in the peace of mind of all of us. and i did not feel that in his

congregation. >> well, i'm sure we all have differing memories. >> romney recalls a meeting he led with more than 300 mormon women. >> i adopted many of the recommendations that they offered. >> not all. >> not all. because the doctrine of my church is not something i'm in a position to change. >> i look at that as a time i saw mitt soften and change. it was a learning experience for all of us. and, you know -- but i saw a person that was respectful and listening and caring. >> but dushku didn't think he was sympathetic at all and believes he bears a grudge against her to this day. >> i think it's indicative of the way mitt sees the world. there are certain people who matter and certain people who he approves of and other people that he doesn't approve of. if he doesn't approve of them, he thinks they don't have the same kind of standing, they don't have the same kind of merit, they don't have the same kind of right to function and to hold opinions and to participate.

>> something others around him at the time fiercely deny. >> i would call him open and welcome to new ideas. and if there's a better way, absolutely, let's do it the better way. >> in business, romney would invent the bain way, something that would pay off in years to come. been toplaces.of you know, i've helped a lot of people save a lot of money. but today...( sfx: loud noise of large metal object hitting the ground) things have been a little strange. (sfx: sound of piano smashing) roadrunner: meep meep. meep meep? (sfx: loud thud sound) what a strange place. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. energy is being produced to power our lives.

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it was the heady '80s. big money, corporate buyouts and

dramatic takeovers. mitt romney was knee-deep in it. a rising star at a boston consulting group, bain & company, which had a great pitch. help businesses make money by cutting costs. >> by all accounts, mitt romney was very successful in advising companies how to improve their business operations. >> but soon romney's boss had a better idea. instead of just advising companies, why not buy them with investor money to generate huge profits. and bain capital was born. early partner jeffrey rennart. >> well, it was a lot of long hours, a lot of late nights and a lot of learning but a lot of success. >> so what kind of a leader was mitt romney during those early years? >> i would say in the early years mitt was a lead-by-example kind of leader.

he -- you know, he dug in, you know, did analysis side by side with us. >> and it paid off. bain capital invested in more than 100 companies, nearly doubling its returns for clients annually. >> how you doing? >> romney made a lot of money, and he would later claim created a lot of jobs. but a former bank colleague, who talked off camera about whether the company's emphasis was on job creation told cnn, quote, we were in the business of creating value for investors. >> was job creation or making money the goal? >> well, every business is organized to create a return for the people who invest in the business. and as businesses are successful and profitable, they're able to hire people. and they can hire more people the more successful they are. businesses are created to provide a return to the owners or the investors. byproduct. --

it employs more and more people. that's the nature of american enterprise. >> ten years into his run at bain capital, romney decided it was time to leave business for politics, just as his father had done. >> i will work very hard to make sure that everybody gets a good job. >> how are you feeling? >> energized, enthusiastic. >> romney's target, senator ted kennedy. not exactly starting at the bottom of the ladder there. >> i told my colleagues at work, >> kennedy was vulnerable. his personal life seemed out of control. as his son patrick remembers it, the contrast with romney was glaring. >> and opposite my dad was this really great-looking guy who was a whiz at business, beautiful family, kind of the picture of

self-discipline. and next to my dad, he was like the perfect polar opposite. >> how are you? yes! >> except, during that race on social issues -- >> let me ask you a question -- >> -- mitt romney sounded an awful lot like ted kennedy. >> i'm absolutely committed to achieving universal coverage and doing so for our children. >> were you a liberal? were you a moderate? >> no. you know, anyone can call me whatever they like, but people can look at my policies and make their own determination. >> ted divine worked for the kennedy campaign. >> mitt romney ran as a strongly pro-choice candidate. he told the newspaper in boston, the gay newspaper in boston, that he'd be better on gay rights than kennedy. >> are you saying romney is just an opportunist? >> i think he looks at politics the way he does business deals, that this doesn't represent an ideological path for him. i think anyone who looks at his

position on issues has to come to that judgment, that for romney, politics is a means of obtaining power to do things that he wants to do. >> by the fall of 1994, it was a dead heat, and the kennedy campaign was looking for a silver bullet. they found it in bain capital. >> i don't like romney's creating jobs because he took every one of them away. >> the ads featured workers for a paper company in indiana. after a bain-owned company took it over, many of its workers lost their jobs. romney says he wasn't at bain at the time. his opponents say his actions led to the job cuts. >> if you think you'd make such a good senator, come out here to marion, indiana, and see what your company has done to these people. >> it worked so well the obama campaign is using the same indiana company, even the same people again. >> he doesn't care anything about the middle class or the lower class people.

>> if we are successful -- >> romney's religious beliefs played a part as well. senator kennedy's nephew joe at one point attacked the mormon church for not allowing blacks to join the priesthood, a policy that had changed 16 years earlier. romney went on the offensive, citing the speech john f. kennedy gave addressing his roman catholic faith. >> in my view, the victory that john kennedy won was not just for 40 million americans who were born catholics, it was for all americans of all faiths. and i'm sad to see that ted kennedy is trying to take away his brother's victory. >> my son's position is the same as jack kennedy's position. >> even romney's father, george, entered the fray. >> i think it's absolutely wrong to keep hammering on the religious issue. >> mr. romney -- >> then in october a critical debate. >> senator kennedy and his family have a multiple real estate empire across this country.

>> romney accused the kennedy family of financially benefiting from real estate deals. >> senator, 15 seconds. >> mr. romney, the kennedy's are not in public service to make money. we have paid too high a price in our commitment to the public service. >> ted kennedy began pulling away, and mitt romney lost. >> he was back at work the next day. the election was tuesday night. wednesday morning he was back at his desk. >> we kind of expected it. it was -- it's interesting. ann was more upset by it than i. but losing put me back into business, and i was more successful than i had been before. >> but not long after, something that would make political defeat seem trivial. >> i think my diagnosis was probably the roughest thing we had to go through as a couple.

it was just before thanksgiving 1998. >> she began to see numbness on her right side. it was spreading larger and larger. she was having more difficulty getting upstair. we went to a neurologist. >> romney's life was about to take an unexpected and unhappy turn. >> we went into his office. he performed an examination. it was very clear she was flunking the examination. she couldn't stand on her right foot without falling over and so forth. he stepped out, and she began to cry, and i welled up tears as well. we hugged each other.

and she said, something's terribly wrong. >> at age 49, ann romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease that can shut down the central nervous system. >> you don't know how much is it going to chew me up and spit me out. where and when is it going to spit me out? how sick am i going to get? is this going to be progressive? am i going to be in a wheelchair? and it's a very, very frightening place to be. >> and i know ann was really distraught and distressed with the diagnosis, particularly as time went on, because she was really ill for quite a while. >> i really just was having a very, very hard time and was very depressed and had kind of given up a little bit. >> it was a tough moment for both of them. it was interesting to see the way he treated her as they went through that, very caring, very

loving. very frustrating for him not to be able to step in and fix it, but it was -- you know, they drew even closer. >> even when i was as sick as that, he would curl up in the bed with me. >> take a minute. >> so you just knew that that's where he was. it was like he was going to do anything he could to just say, i'm here, you're okay, just stay right there, and we'll be okay. >> as the romneys were struggling to get ann's m.s. under control, they were about to face a challenge of an entirely different sort. >> could the scandal over salt lake's olympic bid shatter our city's quest to host the olympic games? >> the 2002 olympics were in trouble. salt lake city was embroiled in a bribery scandal that threatened to bring down the

games. so the search was on for someone to repair the damage. >> romney knew finance, politics and was a mormon. and that made him the top choice. >> they called me instead of mitt because they knew mitt would turn them down flat. >> she called me at work and said, i want you to -- don't say no, mitt. i think you ought to go run the olympics. don't be ridiculous. that's absolutely crazy. i'd never do that. but over time she convinced me. >> so, despite ann's health issues, the romney's left bain and moved to utah in 1999. but when romney really left bain capital is now controversial. on paper, he remained chief executive officer, raising the question of his responsibility for companies that laid off workers when he was in utah. he says that he was gone from the company completely, that the olympics were all-consuming. >> when he got there, it was a disaster. and he was panicked. he really seriously considered saying, it's not going to work here, there's just too many

problems. >> romney needed help so he rallied an old friend from bain capital, fraser bullock, to be the games chief operating officer. >> mitt did describe it as stepping into an empty elevator shaft because you're falling and you're not sure when you will hit ground. >> bullock joined the team that tried to do damage control. they created an operating plan, tried to convince sponsors to stay on board and took a critical look at the nearly $400 million budget deficit staring them in the face. and even got rid of the usual catering at olympic board meetings. >> we had domino's pizza, and it was a dollar a slice. because he knew he could buy a pizza for five bucks, cut it into eight slices, sell them for a dollar a slice, get $8 of revenue for every pizza at a cost of $5. he turned the lunches from a cost center into a profit center.

>> the olympics is like putting on seven super bowls a day for 17 days straight. >> and he became the public face of the games, even becoming an amateur participant, seen here on the skeleton. so did he say one day, i think i'm going to try the skeleton? >> yeah. he said, i'm going to go try this. he got better and better and better so he could get going 70 miles an hour, which is crazy. >> but hidden from the public was the continuing personal struggle. >> mitt was always just constantly worried about ann. she was really deteriorating. >> and she battled through it. she got good help from wonderful physicians. >> by august of 2001, it looked like they had ann's m.s. and the olympics under control. but then -- 9/11. >> -- billowing into the sky. >> there's smoke everywhere.

>> unspeakable sorrow and a very real fear of terrorism at the olympics. >> it's a time for us to make sure that everyone in the world recognizes that we don't stop as a nation, that the characteristics of honor and courage, sacrifice and devotion, which is represented by the olympic athletes, is a message more important today than perhaps ever before. >> over the next five months and with the help of some money from the federal government, security was beefed up. and the games began. >> we had about 2,500 athletes that came in, did the parade of nations, walked all the way around. >> it was a great moment for him, i think. as one political pollster in utah said at the time, mitt romney could walk on water at that point. >> but not everyone agreed.

>> mitt and i often had disagreements about how or what we thought the games were about. and i wasn't on his team, so to speak. >> it's a gold medal day for utah. >> ken bullock, no relation to frazier bullock, was on the organizing committee of the salt lake city olympics before and after romney was brought on board. he was a sort of my way or the highway kind of guy? >> absolutely, no question. to me, the games were about utah. it wasn't about mitt. >> bullock claims romney made the problems look worse than they really were, a calculated political move to ensure public success. >> did we need to raise revenue? were we short? yes. were we three years out? yes. big difference of the games being around the corner. >> so you think he overstated the problems? >> dramatically. dramatically. >> it's a charge the romney camp scoffs at. and in the end, the 2002 olympics were profitable and one of the most successful winter games in history. >> he had pulled off this big

success. he had rescued these games. and now it was a question of what he would parlay that into. >> it wouldn't take long for that question to be answered. meteorologist ivan cabrera from cnn headquarters hurricane sandy. no change, 75-mile-an-hour winds. an impressive storm system. we're getting wind gusts as far away as atlanta here, torrential rains. this radar has looked the same to me in the last four to six hours and that means heavy rainfall. accumulating on top of what we've already received, which is 4 to 6 inches. 4 to 6 more inches on top of that. that will result in significant flooding from rivers, from the storm surge that's coming in along the coast with winds 60 to 80 miles an hour. the winds extend hundreds of

miles to the west as sandy will begin extra tropical transition today, turning from a hurricane to this monster hybrid storm. the storm surge potential, 6 to 11 feet. no significant changes here which is unfortunate, of course. this is locked in for landfall sometime between 8 and 9 p.m. along the jersey coast. we'll have complete coverage, team coverage beginning in about half an hour with an early start to "early start." >> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity and turn your life upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you

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drink dream water, the natural, fast acting sleep aid that helps you wake refreshed. visit drinkdreamwater.com. the opening ceremonies for the 2002 winter olympics were still more than a month away, but mitt romney already had other plans. beth myers remembers getting a call from romney in january. >> i'm thinking about running for governor, and would you have any interest in helping me run my campaign? >> massachusetts had a republican governor, jane swift, but party leaders saw her as weak so they came to romney in a panic. >> jane swift gets wind of this, and two days later she bows out. so she's out and mitt romney is in.

he flies back to belmont with his wife, ann, they're both wearing olympic jackets and give a press conference, and the campaign's begun. >> romney's campaign spokesman. >> it was like being launched out of a rocket. >> how you doing? >> as you know, this is a very democratic state. the legislature is 85% democrat. very few republicans make it into statewide office. so we had a fight on our hands. >> he ran as a moderate on social issues, vowing to clean up state government. >> would you raise your right hand, please? >> it worked. >> congratulations, governor. >> thank you. >> from the beginning, romney relied on a small set of advisors. beth myers, who has never spoken on camera before, was chief of staff. >> people call you romney's romney.

>> for four years, we sat in offices that had a door between us and we popped back and forth between each other's offices all day long. we talked about faith. we talked about the issues of the day. >> first order of business, treat government like a business. >> we had a huge budget deficit so every morning we'd come in and we'd have stacks and stacks of budget books, and line by line -- and mitt would meet in his staff office every morning with the cabinet secretaries. >> it was the way he had always done it, at bain, at the olympics. but here not everyone was on romney's team. >> i will agree that he was a different cat than what people on beacon hill were used to. i think that's probably a pretty good thing. >> i got better over time. i know i made mistakes in how i dealt with others in the

legislature, but we started off pretty well. >> then, two years into his term, he set his sights on something bigger, something that would mean a legacy -- health care. >> he had not had a major achievement that he could point to as some big political success in a future campaign. he needed something to say, i had done this and it was a big deal. >> romney decided to push for health care to cover everyone in the state, but that meant mandating most residents to buy health insurance. >> the governor felt that it would be wrong for the economy and wrong for our business sector to impose a mandate on employers, to require them to provide insurance to their employees. but he felt it very important that people take responsibility for their own health care. >> it was romney's big moment. but now a liability. republicans bitterly oppose any kind of mandate in today's presidential race. >> i think the politics of it have been so complicated that it's ironic the biggest thing he achieved as governor is something he almost never talks about.

>> no less complicated, the politics of abortion. while romney was personally opposed to abortion, he ran for governor supporting abortion rights. but once in office and presented with stem cell legislation that would, in romney's view, have the potential of destroying embryos, he changed his mind. >> and i realized that what sounded good in a campaign, when i actually became the governor and was going to be the person who would sign a piece of legislation which could take human life, i simply couldn't do that. >> democrats say it was about ambition. >> he wanted to run for president of the united states, and he understood that within the republican nominating process, somebody that was pro choice or pro gay rights or anything in terms of a progressive stance would lose. >> i didn't ever see it as a flip-flop. i think that what you saw was the tension between personal beliefs and a public persona.

>> none of this would slow romney down. his sights were already set on the white house in 2008. but there were doubts about his convictions and questions about his mormon faith, a religion some evangelicals call a cult. >> mormonism is the most colorful and controversial, politically toxic and dangerous because people pull out strands and skewer them. >> there was no avoiding it, though, so romney decided to give a crucial speech on his faith early in the primaries. >> he wrote it. he really wrote every word. >> he wrote every word of it. i mean, you very rarely hear that about a politician. >> he did. >> i am an american running for president. i do not define my candidacy by my religion. a person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith. >> ultimately, 2008 was not mitt

romney's year. it was john mccain's. a brutal loss for romney and his family. >> i feel i have to now stand aside. >> for me, i was like, that's it, okay, we did that. that's fine. never again.

you guys are great. almost but not quite. >> i will never do this again. and i just made sure it was very emphatic. >> the romney family seemed done with politics and didn't keep it a secret. >> it was again a very bruising thing. i think people forget that these are real families, the people they love that are going through these hard times.

>> so why the change of heart? >> it was a change of heart. what this m.s. disease has taught me is to learn how to be self-contained and how to not absorb some of the negative things and to recognize that it was an endeavor worth doing and worth pursuing. >> i'm mitt romney. i believe in america. and i'm running for president of the united states. >> but it was a different environment this time around. very anti-establishment. so romney was reborn as an outsider. >> i served in government, but i didn't inhale. i'm still a business guy. >> romney had one driving message. >> it became his mantra. but the tea party, full of contempt for health care reform, never trusted romney, the man who reformed health care in massachusetts. erick erickson is the editor of redstate.com, a conservative website. >> you sit in a room with conservatives behind the scenes

without cameras on and ask them how many really believe mitt romney will fully repeal obama-care, i don't think a hand would go up in the room. >> when romney calls himself this -- >> i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> -- he gets this. >> that's not a line you hear conservatives say about themselves. that's something you hear democrats say about conservatives. >> this is not the time to be doubting people's words. >> one by one, the old demons reappeared. >> romney-care. >> pro abortion. >> bain capital. >> handing the democrats a primer on romney's vulnerabilities. >> i will release multiple years. i don't know how many years. >> on bain, flip-flops, taxes, secrecy, his wealth. but romney finally crawled across the finish line. and his new junior partner, paul ryan, has given reluctant conservatives some hope. >> i want to hear what he has to say on this topic. >> but presidential politics is more than just piecing together

coalitions. it's also about telling a story of who you are, what you believe and why you can be trusted. >> he's very professional. he's got a bit of new england in him. when he's out doing a job, he's going to do it professionally, but he's not the caricature the media or democrats want to portray. he's a very warm, caring guy. >> that's the romney they put on the campaign trial. >> a gift ann and i will pass onto our son and grandsons. all the laws and legislation in the world will never heal the world of loving moms and dads. >> and then a secret tape-recording of romney at a private fund-raiser raised questions about who romney really is. >> there are 47% who are with

him. my job is not to worry about these pem. >> his problem during this campaign if you look at the polls is a significant majority of people do not. when you look at the 47%, that seems to compound the problem. >> the first thing to recognize is that's not an accurate perception. he's running for 100% of the americans. >> a moment for him to fix things. >> as soon as he gets on stage, the first thing he does, takes off his watch and puts it on the podium. but then he writes "dad" on a piece of paper. and that's amazing because he loves his dad, respects his dad. doesn't want to do anything that would not make his father proud.

just a reminder, yes, i'm here, but dad, i love and respect what you taught me, who you are, what kind of a person you are and i'll honor that. >> romney attacked, president obama wilted. >> it's four years later, we still have trillion dollar defici deficits. >> it was a classic romney turn-around with a recasting of romney from the right to the middle during the next two debates. >> regulation is essential. you can't have a free market work if you don't have regulation. >> opening the door for the opposition to ask, who's the real romney? >> we've got to name this condition he's going through. i think it's called romnesia. >> people say you're secretive, you're out of touch, you play by a different set of rules.

>> well, i know that the obama campaign is going to do everything they can to try and deflect from the economic record of the president and his failure to come up with a plan to get the economy going in the future. >> no doubt romney is on message this time. he wants us to believe he can fix things, like the economy, and won't give up until he does. but that's the easy part of hisser to. the rest is harder to tell. he's a devout mormon who still worries it will be held against him. he's more pragmatist and in the end, more cautious than candid. perhaps the ultimate lesson mitt romney learned from his father's life. >> he cared about passion for the mission that he was in the middle of fighting for and winning or losing, didn't change his perspective at all about who he was. he's been defined as a man of character throughout his life. and elections don't change that. >> do you feel that way as you look at this election, win or lose?

>> absolutely. this is a choice that's up to the american people. and who i am has been long ago decided by my wife, by my five sons, my grand kids, daughters-in-law and the people who know me best. morning. welcome. a hurricane of epic procedure portions is barelying to the united states. i'm soledad o'brien coming to you from manhattan. 50 million people are bracing from what could be an onslaught, a once lifetime hurricane named sandy. >> sandy is 1,000 miles wide, packing gale force winds. i'm john berman along new york harbor where officials are worried storm surge 11 feet high

skoo swomp this city. >> hurricane sandy forcing candidates to stop campaign stops and creating havoc for voters as well. cnn's special hurricane coverage starts right now on "early start." hey, everybody, good morning, welcome. you're watching cnn special live coverage of hurricane sandy, i'm soledad o'brien coming to you from columbus circle in the heart of manhattan. we're tracking this morning this storm which is being called a once in lifetime storm as it continues to bear down on the northeast, specifically new york and new jersey. now, if you take a look at the radar, that's where we start this morning, we can see this storm is massive. it's intimidating as well. nearly 1,000 miles wide with hurricane-force winds extending out from the eye for roughly 175 mile. as predicted, sandy has already started veering toward the

coastline now. it's expected to make landfall in southern new jersey either late today or early tomorrow and expected to affect some 50 million people. the hurricane aes already been doing some damage in north carolina the massive energy from the storm drove 12-foot waves into coastal homes. the threat's expected so remain for days now. subways, schoolings shut down in washington, philadelphia, new york as well. markets closed, too. wall street completely shut down. last time that happened was on 9/11 back in 2001. cnn has hurricane sandy covered like no other network on television. you heard from john berman standing by live in battery park city in lower manhattan where they are expecting a serious storm surge. he'll talk about. rob marciano is live from asbury park, bandra endo in ocean city. george howell in kill devil

hills. and we'll talk to emergency officials across the northeast, norfolk, new jersey, atlantic city, connecticut. the governor there, dan malloy will be joining us. maryland's governor, martin o'malley will be joining us from maryland. lots to talk about. this monster storm packing 75-mile-an-hour winds right now. and if the forecasts hold, as they are expected to do, new jersey is now expected to take the brunt of it. let's get right to meteorologist rob marciano in battery park. how are the conditions and what are the predictions of what we'll see in the next 12 hours or so? >> we say this every time a hurricane approaches, as, you know, conditions will be deteriorating. this is such an unusual situation, unusual storm, such a huge storm, as you pointed out that conditions have been bad since yesterday afternoon. as a matter of fact, last night it was windier than it is now.

we'll get to that sort of ebb and flow going on throughout the day. as the center get closer, and it's still very far away at 400 miles away, things will go downhill as we get toward this after. let's go over pacifics of the storm, satellite and statistic. 75-mile-an-hour wind has not changed. category 1 storm. we talk about historic proportions of this. the second lowest pressure at 950 millibars we've seen this far north and the second largest tropical storm since we've been keeping track of that kind of record since 1988. we may break the pressure record of 1938 historic long island express hurricane. there's a chance this continues to actually strengthen as it gets closer to the shore. here's the forecast track. this hasn't changed. our computer model's for the last few days have done a phenomenal job after putting out weird solutions a week and a half ago.

looked like landfall 150 miles south of where i stand, 100 miles south of new york city. that puts the greater metropolitan area on the bad side of this storm. the right side, northeast side where heaviest brunt of winds and storm surge. the rain right now is across the d.c. area, stretching south towards the north carolina coastline where they continue to get pounded by wind and rain there. at 400 miles away moving to the north at about 10 mile an hour. you do the math. later on today, we'll start to see some of this action. actually, it will begin to accelerate toward the west as we go through time. i want to talk briefly about storm surge to the north, it will be the worst. long island, connecticut sound. that's where it might be because of the long fetch of easterly wind where wind will push the water up against the coastline. we could see 6 to 11 feet of

surge there. looks like it will be higher than irene. that has folks worried in new york harbor and here in new jersey. here's what governor chris christie had to say about his warning to the state yesterday. >>. >> so, don't be stupid, get out and go to higher ground. the margin for me being wrong and you staying at a friend's house is significantly better than winding up with severe energy or death for yourself or for your family. >> some public officials caught heat after hurricane irene. some felt it was overblown. i stand by warnings because it's better to be safe than sorry. this is bigger and in many instances badder than hurricane irene was over 12 months ago. back to you. >> thank you. chris christie is completely right. just go to higher ground just for a couple of days. bring some stuff. if you're wrong, fine. this is not shaping up to be

something anything like irene. new york city we're bracing for the impact. mass transit was shut down last night. buses, rail system were brought to a halt. 7 p.m. is when they stopped last night. central park behind me, 5 p.m. last night kicking people out saying the park is closed. they had a lot of damage from hurricane irene with trees being toppled over. meantime, thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate low lying areas in five boroughs, manhattan, brooklyn, including battery park city, where john berman is. how does it look where you are this morning? >> it's really an empty, eerie calm here. 300,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying areas, including battery park, brooklyn, staten island, people going to crash with friends, staying in hotels or going to

some 76 evacuation centers set up around the city. they had to leave before 7:00 last night because that's when the subway shut down. mayor michael bloomberg said he won't force people from their homes. he's just asking, begging people to get out. why? if they stay, they put themselves at risk and also put emergency workers at risk if they this-v to come in and try to rescue them after the fact. the big concern is the storm surge. they're saying 6 to 11 feet high. two feet higher than we saw during hurricane irene. irene did cause minor flooding but that extra 2 feet could cause serious, catastrophic flooding. it could lap up over the edge where i'm standing. this is one of the storm walls. that water could get up, cover where i'm standing and flood this entire area. one of the things they're concerned about is electricity. mayor michael bloomberg said they might have to shut down completely electrical networks

that run through this area. that could affect 17,000 people. you can imagine how that would get higher and highers the day goes on. the real problem, it's a storm surge, it's a full moon so the high tides are even higher. high tide where i'm standing, around 8:50 p.m. tonight. michael bloombergs this will be a slow, steady rise throughout the day with the worst of it really coming at that high tide point at 8:50 p.m. tonight. that is what they're most concerned about. the mayor says it's best to be safe, get out now if you're still down here in this area. soledad? >> thank you. another thing to mention, it's cold. that's often unusual during hurricanes. so people are looking at some places 30 degrees and without power that's a big problem for people. they're estimating 10 million people would lose power from this storm. all the things we're watching

and monitoring for you. ahead, when our special conch of hurricane sandy, we'll toss to nassau county chapter of the american red cross, her part of long island is expected to take a direct hit. we'll talk to her about what the red cross is doing to best prepare for the onslaught of hurricane sandy also we'll talk to some governors and what they're concerned about as the brunt of hurricane sandy rolls through. back in a moment with special coverage.

welcome back. you're watching cnn special coverage of hurricane sandy approaching the northeast coast. emergency services personnel are telling us they are prepared to respond as necessary to the effects of hurricane sandy. the national weather service is forecasting that the brunt of the storm, much could hit long island this afternoon, late this evening. anna kay twitty is the spokes woman for nassau county, new york, chapter, joining us by phone. thank you for talking to us. talk to us about your preparations right now. >> absolutely. thanks for having me this morning. the american red cross has launched a multistate response to help those in the storm's path. we've mobilized hundreds of volunteers and shelters set up across seven states and we anticipate that number to grow. we have prepositioned relief

supplies such as cotts, blankets and food, ready to go into effected areas once this storm has passed. 1030 emergency response vehicles that will go into the community once they can do so. we're encouraging people to locate a shelter if they haven't already evacuated. listen to local authorities and find a red cross shelter. you can do this by downloading the red cross hurricane app or visit redcross.org or call 1-800-red-cross and find a safe place in your house. if you don't seek shelter, but we have shelters available across the state. >> let me ask you a question about how many people you are preparing to be able to house in some of these shelters. >> absolutely. it sdpentd on each location but we expect we'll come shelter thousands of people.

we have trained disaster relief volunteers across the country to make sure we have a safe place, a warm meal and emotional sment to folks that have come and residing in our shelter. >> folks can go online to track down where these shelters are if they had to? >> absolutely. >> they have-k visit redcross.org, call 1-80-red-cross or a free red cross app for android and iphone users with preloaded emergency content, shelter locations and real time weather alert. we encourage people to go through those three means. and continue listening to your local news. >> anna kate twitty, knauss saw county red cross. thank you. the southeast coast of the united states was the very first to feel the brunt of hurricane

sandy here for folks in the united states. the hurricane kicked up strong waves along the outer banks all day. george howell is in kill devil hills in north carolina this morning, a community on the outer banks. describe for me about what you're seeing right now. >> reporter: good morning. we're talking about an area that's been under these conditions for the last 72 hours. we're talking about strong winds that are coming through, wind gusts tonight -- rather this morning, 30 to 40 miles an hour. also a real great concern, soledad, about the storm surge from this storm. just two days ago we walked the beach here along the outer banks. that beach is no longer there. you see how quickly the atlantic has risen. many same conditions people will be dealing with today in new york city.

there's concern on the sound side. as water continues to shift, water will be prone to flooding and keeping an eye on that. one other thing that's important to talk about, u.s. coast guard has identified a tall sailing ship about 90 miles from where we are, about 250 miles -- rather, 160 miles from the eye of this storm. they lost propulsion and 17 people on board that ship. the ship is at the mercy of the ocean. the coast guard found the ship, regained communications with the crew and right now it's a matter of trying to get out there and get to them. a developing situation just off the coast of north carolina. something the coast guard and we will be keeping a close eye on. >> appreciate that. still ahead, the jersey shore is bracing for the brunt of this storm, the hurricane is creeping

closer. we're expecting landfall some time this evening. we'll take you to new jersey to update on what's happening there. 0ñ@ñfñ

morning. let's start with live pictures from virginia beach, virginia, where the wind is picking up and choppy waves in the backdrop. we're monitoring what's

happening as we continue with our cnn special conch of hurricane sandy. we are going to track sandy's every move as it makes it's way to where we are expecting it to make landfall. new jersey later this evening. there's a new advisory expected out at 5:00 this morning. we'll bring that to you live which it happens. right now we know the storm is packing 75-mile-an-hour punch. if the forecasts hold, we're looking at new jersey as a place where they will get a major, major hit. meteorologist rob marciano is in new jersey in asbury park, monitoring the conditions there and also the forecast as well for us. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. here we are, about 40 miles or so due south of new york city and 20 or 25 miles south to the inlet to new york harbor where the surge could be historic. the waves across new jersey have been pounding. we stand on berkeley hotel, there's a lot of history in

asbury park, it's on the surge of another economic comeback. a couple hundred yards from the ocean. last night during high tide cycle the water was well above the normal side, 3 feet above average, lapping up against the boardwalk. later on today and tonight when high tide cycle peaks around 8:00, is around when sandy should be making landfall just south of here, we expect a storm surge of at least four, possibly as high as eight feet. that would mean that water would come up over the board walk and possibly flooding these streets through the rest of asbury park. a similar situation will happen along the coastline. inland flooding and devastating winds sandy will bring. government officials and governors across the northeast corridor have been warning their constituents. this is what governor christie had to say to new jersey yesterday. >> so, don't be stupid. get out.

and go to higher, safer ground. the margin for error of me being wrong and you staying at a friend's house for two days, i think, is significantly better than winding up with a severe injury or death for yourself or for your family. >> always a straight talker. he was a straight talker during hurricane irene with similar warnings. irene as far as folks who lived near the cities, you know, they felt it wasn't that big of a deal. obviously, a multibrl dollar disaster, especially further inland. better to play it safe than sorry. not just here across new jersey, across the east coast and manhattan, people are heeding the warning. you had a 4-inch storm surge from irene. john berman pointed out, likely to be higher here. i think we'll have serious problems across some of these city's infrastructure, not only in new york city but also in nj emergency emergency when it makes landfall tonight. >> thank you, rob.

rob will continue to monitor what's happening in asbury park as well as the forecast this morning. good morning. >> it is warm in here. thank you. mindful of the potential impact of hurricane sandy, both romney and obama campaigns have suspended funding. both canceled campaigning events in virginia as well. the storm could create havoc with early voting in states that are in its path. maryland's governor already canceled early voting in his state for today. in virginia, the governor said, polling centers will be a top priority for restoring power if it is lost there. the san francisco giants are world champions for the second time in the last three seasons. they swept the tigers away with a 10-inning game four win in

detroit. giant' third baseman pablo sandoval was voted most valuable player and he says there is no "i" in mvp. >> it's a team. it's a team. i say thank you to my teammates to give me the opportunity to be here. you know, the two last series. you know, winning six elimination games is tough. >> giants finished with seven straight postseason wins. now the seventh world series title in team history. hooray for them. soledad? >> thanks very much. we'll continue to check in with zorida for news that's not hurricane-related. cnn is the place to tune in with our special coverage. we know this storm is approximately 1,000 miles wide. and it is now converging on the new jersey coast. we'll be monitoring that with with team coverage from north

carolina to new york. also, all eyes on lower manhattan as well. predictions there could be 11-foot waves that could come crashing ashore from the storm surge. we'll take you to lower manhattan. that could be catastrophic. you're watching our special coverage. >> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity and turn your life upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind.

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